Electrophotographic toner

ABSTRACT

An electrophotographic toner containing a binder resin containing an ester which has 2-4 ester bonds and is obtained from a long-chain, linear saturated alcohol as an alcohol component or a long-chain linear saturated fatty acid as an acid component, can be fixed at a low fixing temperature, is free of any practical problem concerning offset-free properties, and has excellent fixing strength to a receptor paper sheet and excellent image characteristics.

This application is a division of application Ser. No. 08/590,476, filedJan. 24, 1996, now issued U.S. Pat. No. 5,753,397.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an electrophotographic toner. Morespecifically, it relates to an electrophotographic toner suitable foruse with a copying machine and a printer for which a hot roll fixing isadapted.

DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART

In recent years, it is desired with the spreading use of a copyingmachine and a printer that the copying machine and the printer shouldcomply with a decrease in energy (a decrease in electric powerconsumption) for mainly popularizing the use of them at home andattaining multi-functions, a fast performance for spreading the use ofthem to a so-called gray zone in a boundary of printers and copyingmachines, and a decrease in roll pressure for the simplification of afixing roll in order to decrease the costs of them.

Further, as copying machines having the function of double-surfacecopying and an automatic document feeder are widely used with theavailability of high-quality copying machines, electrophotographictoners are required to be excellent in the following properties. Thatis, electrophotographic toners are required to have a low fixingtemperature and excellent resistance to offsetting, and they are alsorequired to have fixing strength to a receptor sheet sufficient for theprevention of soiling at the time of double-surface copying and soilingof an automatic document feeder.

For complying with the above requirements, it has been hitherto proposedto improve toners in the molecular weight of binder resins contained inthe toners and/or the molecular weight distribution of the binderresins.

Specifically, it has been attempted to decrease the molecular weight ofa binder resin for decreasing the fixing temperature. The melting pointof a toner can be decreased, while the viscosity of the toner decreasesat the same time, which causes a problem in that a phenomenon ofoffsetting to a fixing roll takes place. It has been attempted toovercome the above offsetting phenomenon by a method in which themolecular weight distribution of a binder resin is broadened byadjusting the low molecular weight region and the high molecular weightregion of the binder resin or by a method in which the binder resin inthe high molecular weight region is crosslinked. In these methods,however, it is required to decrease the glass transition temperature(Tg) of the resin for obtaining a toner having sufficient fixingproperties, and it is therefore inevitable to impair the shelf life ofthe toner. Further, when the content of a binder resin in the lowmolecular weight region is large, the toner itself is fragile, and areceptor sheet is soiled at the time of double-surface copying and theautomatic document feeder is soiled.

Further, it has been also proposed to incorporate apolyolefin-containing releasing agent for preventing the aboveoffsetting phenomenon. However, a toner containing a releasing agent hasa high melting point, and has the following problem. When this toner isfixed at a low temperature, the fixing strength of the toner to areceptor sheet is not sufficiently high. It has been also proposed toincorporate a wax having a low melting point such as carnauba wax, ricewax or candelilla wax. Since, however, wax is a mixture of a pluralityof esters, and free fatty acid or free alcohol remains this causes aproblem on the shelf life of a toner when the wax is contained in thetoner.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide anelectrophotographic toner which can be fixed at a low fixingtemperature, which is free of any practical problem concerningoffset-free properties, and which has excellent fixing strength to areceptor paper sheet and excellent image characteristics.

According to the present invention, there is provided anelectrophotographic toner containing a binder resin containing an esterwhich has 2-4 ester bonds and is obtained from a long-chain, linearsaturated alcohol as an alcohol component or a long-chain linearsaturated fatty acid as an acid component.

According to the present invention, there is further provided anelectrophotographic toner containing a binder resin containing atriester synthesized from a long-chain linear saturated alcohol andboric acid.

Further, according to the present invention, there is provided anelectrophotographic toner containing a binder resin containing an esterwhich has 2-4 ester bonds and is synthesized from a long-chain linearsaturated fatty acid, a neopentyl polyol and a dicarboxylic acid.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The ester which has 2-4 ester bonds and is obtained from a long-chain,linear saturated alcohol as an alcohol component or a long-chain linearsaturated fatty acid as an acid component, used in the presentinvention, includes a triester obtained from a long-chain linearsaturated alcohol and boric acid.

The above boric acid includes boric anhydride, orthoboric acid,metaboric acid, tetraboric acid and boron trichloride. The abovelong-chain linear saturated alcohol includes CH₃ (CH₂)_(n-1) OH in whichn is approximately 6-28. The triester is obtained, for example, by amethod in which boric anhydride and a long-chain linear saturatedalcohol are placed in a round-bottom flask having a stirrer and themixture is generally allowed to react in an esterification reaction atleast 120° C. In this case, the amount of the long-chain linearsaturated alcohol per mole of the boric anhydride is 3 mol. Then, thereaction mixture is filtered, and the residue is purified with analcohol or ether.

The ester which has 2-4 ester bonds and is synthesized from a long-chainlinear saturated fatty acid, used in the present invention, includes acompound synthesized from a long-chain linear saturated fatty acid, aneopentyl polyol and a dicarboxylic acid.

The above neopentyl polyol includes neopentyl glycol, trimethylolpropaneand pentaerythritol. Of these neopentyl polyols, pentaerythritol is themost preferred since the toner as an end product is excellent in a shelflife.

The above dicarboxylic acid includes aliphatic saturated dicarboxylicacids such as oxalic acid, malonic acid, succinic acid, glutaric acid,adipic acid, pimelic acid, suberic acid, azelaic acid and sebacic acid,aliphatic unsaturated dicarboxylic acids such as maleic acid and fumaricacid, and aromatic dicarboxylic acids such as phthalic acid, isophthalicacid and terephthalic acid. Of these dicarboxylic acids, short-chainaliphatic dicarboxylic acids such as oxalic acid, malonic acid, maleicacid and fumaric acid are preferred since the toner shows a decreasedmelting point and improved fixing properties.

The long-chain linear saturated fatty acid has the formula of CH₃(CH₂)_(n) COOH in which n is approximately 6-28. Specific examples ofthe long-chain linear saturated fatty acid include capric acid,undecylic acid, lauric acid, tridecylic acid, myristic acid,pentadecylic acid, palmitic acid, heptadecanoic acid, stearic acid,nonadecanoic acid, arachic acid, behenic acid, lignoceric acid, ceroticacid, heptacosanoic acid, montanic acid and melissic acid.

The amount of the dicarboxylic acid per mole of the long-chain linearsaturated fatty acid is 0.3-0.8. When the amount of the dicarboxylicacid exceeds the above upper limit, undesirably, the melting point ofthe ester compound increases and the fixing properties of the toner at alow temperature are liable to be poor. When the above amount is smallerthan the above lower limit, undesirably, the melting point of the toneris too low so that the storage stability of the toner is liable to bepoor.

The above ester is obtained by a method in which the neopentyl polyol,the dicarboxylic acid and the long-chain linear saturated fatty acid areplaced in a round-bottom flask having a stirrer and a condenser with asmall amount of sulfuric acid, the mixture is refluxed under heat atabout 130° C. for about 4 hours, the reaction mixture filtered, and theresidue is purified with methyl ether.

The above ester having ester bonds preferably has a melting point of40°-80° C. With a decrease in the above the melting point, the fixingproperties at a low temperature is improved. However, when the meltingpoint is lower than 40° C., the toner shows a poor shelf life. When theabove melting point is higher than 80° C., undesirably, the toner showspoor fixing properties at a low temperature. The amount of the ester per100 parts by weight of the binder resin (excluding the ester) ispreferably 1-20 parts by weight. When the amount of the ester is lessthan 1 part by weight, there is no effect on the fixing properties. Whenthe above amount is greater than 20 parts by weight, undesirably, themelting viscosity is so low that a high-temperature offsetting takesplace.

In the present invention, the term "melting point" refers to thetemperature at a heat absorption peak when the heat absorption ismeasured by DSC. Specifically, the heat absorption is measured by amethod in which about 10 mg of an ester is weighed and set, for example,in a differential scanning calorimeter DSC-5200 supplied by SeikoInstruments Inc., N₂ gas is introduced at a rate of 50 ml/minute, theester is temperature-increased from 20° C. to 150° C. at a rate of 10°C./minute and rapidly cooled from 150° C. to 20° C., and thistemperature-increasing and cooling process is repeated once more. When aplurality of heat absorption peaks are observed, a temperature at whichthe greatest heat absorption is observed is taken as the melting point.

As the binder resin used in the present invention, any one of resinsgenerally used as a binder resin for a toner may be used, whileparticularly preferred are those resins which have low meltinginitiation temperatures in view of an improvement in fixing performance.The toner preferably has a melting initiation temperature in the rangeof from 60° C. to 100° C. When the melting initiation temperature of thetoner is higher than 100° C., the toner shows insufficient fixingproperties. When it is lower than 60° C., the toner shows poor blockingproperties to cause a problem in its shelf life.

The melting initiation temperature in the present invention refers tothe temperature at which a plunger starts to move downward under thefollowing measurement conditions.

Measuring apparatus: Koka type flow tester CF-500 supplied by ShimadzuCorporation

Measurement conditions:

Plunger: 1 cm²

Diameter of die: 1 mm

Length of die: 1 mm

Load: 20 kgF

Temperature for preliminary heating: 50°-80° C.

Time for preliminary heating: 300 seconds

Temperature elevation rate: 6° C./minute

The toner of the present invention is obtained by mixing the binderresin containing the above ester, a colorant, a charge control agent andoptionally additive(s) such as a magnetic material in a mixing ratio asrequired, melt-kneading the mixture, cooling the kneaded product tosolidness, pulverizing the resultant solid and classifying thepulverized product. Further, the toner of the present invention may be aso-called polymerization method toner obtained by mixing the abovematerials when the resin is polymerized.

The binder resin used in the present invention includes a styrene resin,a polyacrylic acid ester resin, a styrene-acrylate copolymer resin,polyvinyl chloride, polyvinyl acetate, polyvinylidene chloride, aphenolic resin, an epoxy resin and a polyester resin.

The colorant used in the present invention includes carbon black,nigrosine dye, Aniline Blue, Chalcooil Blue, Chromium Yellow,Ultramarine Blue, Du Pont Oil Red, Quinoline Yellow, Methylene BlueChloride, Phthalocyanine Blue, Malachite Green Oxalate, lamp black andRose Bengale. These colorants may be used alone or in combination. Thecolorant is required to be contained in an amount sufficient for formingvisible images having a sufficient density. The amount of the colorantper 100 parts by weight of the binder resin (excluding the ester) is1-20 parts by weight.

The magnetic material optionally used in the present invention includesferrite, magnetite, ferromagnetic metals such as iron, cobalt andnickel, alloys of these metals, compounds containing these metals,alloys which contain no ferromagnetic metal but exhibit ferromagnetismwhen properly treated under heat, i.e., so-called Heusler alloyscontaining manganese and copper such as manganese-copper-aluminum alloyand manganese-copper-tin alloy, and chromium dioxide. The magneticmaterial is homogeneously incorporated into the binder resin in a statein which the magnetic material has the form of a fine powder having anaverage diameter of 0.1-1 μm. The content of the magnetic material, per100 parts by weight of the toner (excluding the magnetic material) is20-70 parts by weight, preferably 40-70 parts by weight. When thecontent of the magnetic material is less than 20% by weight, themagnetic power of the toner is insufficient for forming a magneticbrush, and there is a problem in forming an image. When the abovecontent is greater than 70% by weight, undesirably, not only themagnetic power of the toner is so high that the image density isinsufficient, but also the fixing properties are poor.

The electrophotographic toner of the present invention may be mixed witha carrier formed of a ferrite powder or an iron powder to form atwo-component developer. Further, when the toner of the presentinvention contains the above magnetic material, the toner may be used asa one-component developer for developing an electrostatic image withoutmixing it with any carrier, or may be mixed with the above carrier toform a two-component developer. The toner of the present invention maybe also applied to a non-magnetic one-component developing method.

The electrophotographic toner of the present invention contains a binderresin containing an ester which has 2-4 ester bonds and is obtained froma long-chain linear saturated alcohol as an alcohol component or along-chain linear saturated fatty acid as an acid component.

The present invention provides an electrophotographic toner which has amelting initiation temperature far lower than the melting initiationtemperature, i.e., about 110° C., of conventional toners. Further,differing from conventional toners, the electrophotographic toner of thepresent invention accomplishes both excellent low-temperature fixingproperties and a wide offsetting-free temperature range. Therefore, theheat-fixing temperature can be set at a temperature far lower than thosetemperatures required of conventional toners, so that the electric powerconsumption of a copying machine or a printer can be greatly decreased.

EXAMPLES

The present invention will be explained with reference to Exampleshereinafter, in which "part," stands for "part by weight".

Synthesis Example 1 (Synthesis of stearyl borate)

Boric anhydride in an amount of 1 mol and 3 mol of stearyl alcohol wereplaced in a round-bottom flask having a stirrer, and heated at 120° C.for 4 hours. The reaction mixture was filtered, and the residue waspurified with methyl ether to give stearyl borate. This triester had amelting point of 55° C. as a temperature of heat absorption peakmeasured by DSC.

The above stearyl borate was used to prepare the followingelectrophotographic toners.

Example 1

    ______________________________________    Styrene-acrylate copolymer resin A (monomer                               100    parts    composition: styrene 85 parts by weight/butyl acrylate 15    parts by weight)     Copolymer having a high molecular weight    Mw = 9.0 × 10.sup.5    Mn = 3.9 × 10.sup.5    Copolymer having a low molecular weight    Mw = 8.0 × 10.sup.3    Mn = 2.7 × 10.sup.3    Copolymer having a low molecular weight: copolymer    having a low molecular weight = 70:30!    Stearyl borate             5      parts    Carbon black (trade name: MA-100, supplied by                               6.5    parts    Mitsubishi Kasei Corporation)    Chromium-containing metal dye (trade name: S-34,                               2      parts    supplied by Orient Chemical Industries, Ltd.)    Polypropylene (trade name: Viscol 330P, supplied by                               3      parts    Sanyo Chemical Industries, Ltd.)    ______________________________________

The above materials were mixed with a super mixer, melt-kneaded and thenpulverized with a jet mill, and the pulverized product was classifiedwith a dry-method flush classifier to give negatively chargeable tonermatrix particles having an average particle diameter of 11 μm. Then, 100parts of the toner matrix particles and 0.3 part of hydrophobic silica(trade name: R-927, supplied by Nippon Aerosil) were stirred in aHenschel mixer for 1 minute to coat the individual particles with thehydrophobic silica, whereby an electrophotographic toner of the presentinvention was obtained.

Example 2

    ______________________________________    The same styrene-acrylate copolymer resin A as that                               100    parts    used in Example 1    Stearyl borate             10     parts    Carbon black (trade name: MA-100, supplied by                               6.5    parts    Mitsubishi Kasei Corporation)    Chromium-containing metal dye (trade name: S-34,                               2      parts    supplied by Orient Chemical Industries, Ltd.)    Polypropylene (trade name: Viscol 330P, supplied by                               3      parts    Sanyo Chemical Industries, Ltd.)    ______________________________________

An electrophotographic toner of the present invention was obtained fromthe above materials in the same manner as in Example 1.

Synthesis Example 2

Eicosyl borate was obtained in the same manner as in Synthesis Example 2except that the steary alcohol (long-chain linear saturated alcohol) wasreplaced with eicosyl alcohol. This ester had a melting point of 60° C.as a temperature of heat absorption peak measured by DSC.

The above eicosyl borate was used to prepare the followingelectrophotographic toners.

Example 3

    ______________________________________    The same styrene-acrylate copolymor resin A as that                               100    parts    used in Example 1    Eicosyl borate             5      parts    Carbon black (trade name: MA-100, supplied by                               6.5    parts    Mitsubishi Kasei Corporation)    Chromium-containing metal dye (trade name: S-34,                               2      parts    supplied by Orient Chemical Industries, Ltd.)    Polypropylene (trade name: Viscol 330P, supplied by                               3      parts    Sanyo Chemical Industries, Ltd.)    ______________________________________

An electrophotographic toner of the present invention was obtained fromthe above materials in the same manner as in Example 1.

Example 4

    ______________________________________    The same styrene-acrylate copolymer resin A as that                               100    parts    used in Example 1    Eicosyl borate             10     parts    Carbon black (trade name: MA-100, supplied by                               6.5    parts    Mitsubishi Kasei Corporation)    Chromium-containing metal dye (trade name: S-34,                               2      parts    supplied by Orient Chemical Industries, Ltd.)    Polypropylene (trade name: Viscol 330P, supplied by                               3      parts    Sanyo Chemical Industries, Ltd.)    ______________________________________

An electrophotographic toner of the present invention was obtained fromthe above materials in the same manner as in Example 1.

Comparative Example 1

    ______________________________________    The same styrene-acrylate copolymer resin A as that                               100    parts    used in Example 1    Carbon black (trade name: MA-100, supplied by                               6.5    parts    Mitsubishi Kasei Corporation)    Chromium-containing metal dye (trade name: S-34,                               2      parts    supplied by Orient Chemical Industries, Ltd.)    Polypropylene (trade name: Viscol 330P, supplied by                               3      parts    Sanyo Chemical Industries, Ltd.)    ______________________________________

A comparative electrophotographic toner was obtained from the abovematerials in the same manner as in Example 1.

Comparative Example 2

    ______________________________________    The same styrene-acrylate copolymer resin A as that                               100    parts    used in Example 1    Castor wax                 5      parts    Carbon black (trade name: MA-100, supplied by                               6.5    parts    Mitsubishi Kasei Corporation)    Chromium-containing metal dye (trade name: S-34,                               2      parts    supplied by Orient Chemical Industries, Ltd.)    Polypropylene (trade name: Viscol 330P, supplied by                               3      parts    Sanyo Chemical Industries, Ltd.)    ______________________________________

A comparative electrophotographic toner was obtained from the abovematerials in the same manner as in Example 1.

Comparative Example 3

    ______________________________________    The same styrene-acrylate copolymer resin A as that                               100    parts    used in Example 1    Polyethylene wax (melting initiation tempetature                               5      parts    81.1° C.)    Carbon black (trade name: MA-100, supplied by                               6.5    parts    Mitsubishi Kasei Corporation)    Chromium-containing metal dye (trade name: S-34,                               2      parts    supplied by Orient Chemical Industries, Ltd.)    Polypropylene (trade name: Viscol 330P, supplied by                               3      parts    Sanyo Chemical Industries, Ltd.)    ______________________________________

A comparative electrophotographic toner was obtained from the abovematerials in the same manner as in Example 1.

The above-obtained electrophotographic toners of the present inventionand the above-obtained comparative electrophotographic toners weretested on the following items.

(1) Offsetting-free temperature range and offsetting-free temperaturewidth

4 Parts of an electrophotographic toner sample or a comparativeelectrophotographic toner and 96 parts of an non-coated ferrite carrier(trade name: FL-1020, supplied by Powder Tech) were mixed to obtain atwo-component developer. The two-component developer was used to formnon-fixed toner images having a band form having a size of 2 cm×5 cm ona plurality of A4-size transfer sheet with a commercially availablecopying machine (trade name: SF-9800, supplied by Sharp Corp.).

Then, a fixing machine having a set of a heat fixing roll surface-coatedwith a fluorine resin (trade name: Teflon, supplied by du Pont deNemours & Co.) and a pressure fixing roll having a surface formed ofsilicone rubber was adjusted to a roll pressure of 1 kg/cm² and a rollspeed of 50 mm/sec, and while the surface temperature of the above heatfixing roll was changed stepwise, the above non-fixed toner images onthe transfer sheets were fixed. Then, the transfer sheets were observedas to whether or not those portions other than the fixed images weresoiled with the toner. The temperature range in which no soiling tookplace was taken as an offsetting-free region. Further, a differencebetween the highest temperature (upper limit) of the offsetting-freeregion and the lowest temperature (lower limit) thereof was taken as anoffsetting-free temperature width.

(2) Fixing strength

The surface temperature of the heat fixing roll of the above fixingmachine was set at 140° C., and the above non-fixed toner image on thetransfer sheet was fixed. And, a cotton pad was rubbed against the fixedimage, and a fixing strength was calculated on the basis of thefollowing equation and used as an index for low-energy fixingproperties. The image density was measured with a reflectiondensitometer RD-914 supplied by Macbeth.

Fixing strength (%)=(image density of fixed image after rubbing/imagedensity of fixed image before rubbing)×100

(3) Melting initiation temperature

Measured according to the method specified in the present specification.

Table 1 shows the results.

The results in Table 1 show that the electrophotographic toners of thepresent invention have excellent fixing properties over the comparativeelectrophotographic toners.

                  TABLE 1    ______________________________________           Ex.1 Ex.2   Ex.3   Ex.4 CEx.1 CEx.2 CEx.3    ______________________________________    Offsetting-             120    115    120  110  140   120   125    free tempera-             ∓   ∓   ∓ ∓ ∓  ∓  ∓    ture range °C.             190    180    195  175  200   200   200    Offsetting-             70     65     75   65   60    80    75    free tempera-    ture width °C.    Fixing   92     98     90   99   65    77    75    strength %    Melting  97     92     98   90   109   104   105    initiation    temperature °C.    ______________________________________     Ex. = Example, CEx. = Comparative Example

Synthesis Example 3

Pentaerythritol in an amount of 1 mol, 2 mol of stearic acid and 1 molof maleic acid were placed in a round-bottom flask having a stirrer, andheated at 130° C. for 4 hours for condensation. The reaction mixture wasfiltered, and the residue was purified with methyl ether to give anester A of the present invention. This ester A had a melting point of60° C. as a temperature of heat absorption peak measured by DSC.

The above ester A was used to prepare the following electrophotographictoners.

Example 5

    ______________________________________    The same styrene-acrylate copolymer resin A as that                               100    parts    used in Example 1    Ester A                    5      parts    Carbon black (trade name: MA-100, supplied by                               6.5    parts    Mitsubishi Kasei Corporation)    Chromium-containing metal dye (trade name: S-34,                               2      parts    supplied by Orient Chemical Industries, Ltd.)    Polypropylene (trade name: Viscol 330P, supplied by                               3      parts    Sanyo Chemical Industries, Ltd.)    ______________________________________

The above materials were mixed with a super mixer, melt-kneaded and thenpulverized with a jet mill, and the pulverized product was classifiedwith a dry-method flush classifier to give negatively chargeable tonermatrix particles having an average particle diameter of 11 μm. Then, 100parts of the toner matrix particles and 0.3 part of hydrophobic silica(trade name: R-927, supplied by Nippon Aerosil) were stirred in aHenschel mixer for 1 minute to coat the individual particles with thehydrophobic silica, whereby an electrophotographic toner of the presentinvention was obtained.

Example 6

    ______________________________________    The same styrene-acrylate copolymer resin A as that                               100    parts    used in Example 1    Ester A                    10     parts    Carbon black (trade name: MA-100, supplied by                               6.5    parts    Mitsubishi Kasei Corporation)    Chromium-containing metal dye (trade name: S-34,                               2      parts    supplied by Orient Chemical Industries, Ltd.)    Polypropylene (trade name: Viscol 330P, supplied by                               3      parts    Sanyo Chemical Industries, Ltd.)    ______________________________________

An electrophotographic toner of the present invention was obtained fromthe above materials in the same manner as in Example 5.

Synthesis Example 4

An ester B was obtained in the same manner as in Synthesis Example 3except that the stearic acid (long-chain linear saturated fatty acid)was replaced with lauric acid. This ester B had a melting point of 51°C. as a temperature of heat absorption peak measured by DSC.

The above ester B was used to prepare the following electrophotographictoners.

Example 7

    ______________________________________    The same styrene-acrylate copolymer resin A as that                               100    parts    used in Example 1    Ester B                    5      parts    Carbon black (trade name: MA-100, supplied by                               6.5    parts    Mitsubishi Kasei Corporation)    Chromium-containing metal dye (trade name: S-34,                               2      parts    supplied by Orient Chemical Industries, Ltd.)    Polypropylene (trade name: Viscol 330P, supplied by                               3      parts    Sanyo Chemical Industries, Ltd.)    ______________________________________

An electrophotographic toner of the present invention was obtained fromthe above materials in the same manner as in Example 5.

Example 8

    ______________________________________    The same styrene-acrylate copolymer resin A as that                               100    parts    used in Example 1    Ester B                    10     parts    Carbon black (trade name: MA-100, supplied by                               6.5    parts    Mitsubishi Kasei Corporation)    Chromium-containing metal dye (trade name: S-34,                               2      parts    supplied by Orient Chemical Industries, Ltd.)    Polypropylene (trade name: Viscol 330P, supplied by                               3      parts    Sanyo Chemical Industries, Ltd.)    ______________________________________

An electrophotographic toner of the present invention was obtained fromthe above materials in the same manner as in Example 5.

The above-obtained electrophotographic toners of the present inventionwere tested in the same manner as in Example 1.

Table 2 shows the results. For comparison, Table 2 also shows theresults of Comparative Examples 1 to 3.

The results in Table 2 show that the electrophotographic toners of thepresent invention have excellent fixing properties over the comparativeelectrophotographic toners.

                  TABLE 2    ______________________________________           Ex.5 Ex.6   Ex.7   Ex.8 CEx.1 CEx.2 CEx.3    ______________________________________    Offsetting-             120    115    115  110  140   120   125    free tempera-             ∓   ∓   ∓ ∓ ∓  ∓  ∓    ture range °C.             195    185    190  180  200   200   200    Offsetting-             75     70     75   70   60    80    75    free tempera-    ture width °C.    Fixing   90     93     94   99   65    77    75    strength %    Melting  98     95     95   91   109   104   105    initiation    temperature °C.    ______________________________________     Ex. = Example, CEx. = Comparative Example

What is claimed is:
 1. An electrophotographic toner having a meltinginitiation temperature in the range of 60° C. to 100° C., said tonercontaining a binder resin and a compound which has 2-4 ester bonds andis obtained from a linear saturated fatty acid having 8 to 30 carbonatoms, a neopentyl polyol and a dicarboxylic acid as the main componentsof the compound, wherein the compound which has 2-4 ester bonds ispresent in the amount of 1 to 20 parts by weight, per 100 parts byweight of the binder resin exclusive of the compound which has 2-4 esterbonds.
 2. An electrophotographic toner according to claim 1, wherein theneopentyl polyol is pentaerythritol.
 3. An electrophotographic toneraccording to claim 1, wherein the dicarboxylic acid is at least oneselected from the group consisting of oxalic acid, malonic acid, maleicacid and fumaric acid.
 4. An electrophotographic toner according toclaim 1, wherein the compound which has 2-4 ester bonds is a compoundobtained by using the dicarboxylic acid in an amount of 0.3 to 0.8 molper mole of the linear saturated fatty acid.
 5. An electrophotographictoner according to claim 1, wherein the compound which has 2-4 esterbonds has a melting point of 40° C. to 80° C.